The cat met me at the door as usual, meowing his impatience at the
speed it took me to enter and close the door. Until I got inside,
he wound himself around my ankles, complaining loudly because I
wasn’t picking him up. Just as I bent over to lift him, a hard,
solid object slammed into the side of my head and sent me reeling.
What the hell? I reached for my gun then remembered where I’d left
it. Fat lot of good it would do me downstairs.
By the time I picked myself up and turned around, my ex had left
the closet where he’d been hiding and now stalked toward me. Bandit
didn’t know what was going on, only knew I continued to ignore him.
He twisted again around my ankles as I backed away from Ricky and I
tripped, nearly fell, until Ricky grabbed my jacket lapels and
hauled me upright and close to him.
"So I’m not welcome here, hey, baby doll."
His sneer frightened me—the same churlish derision I’d seen often
enough when he started using his fists in the past. Damn you,
Norrie Hawke. Why’d you have to say anything? If I hadn’t come home
now, he might not have waited.
The first slap rattled my brain and made me see double. I blinked
furiously, trying to make out his next move and only saw the fist
at the last minute, too late to avoid it. He slugged me in the jaw.
My teeth jarred together, I bit my tongue and cried out in pain
without meaning to. I’d learned the hard way that if I made any
noise, the beatings only got worse.
"You gotta learn, Jennifer, that what I want, I get. And I want
you. You and that stupid attorney shouldn’t ever have got that
divorce behind my back. The team wouldn’t let me come home long
enough to fight you, so that slipped through. And a restraining
order?" His mocking grin became even more frightening than it had
first been. His face drew closer to mine and I focused on a trickle
of saliva that dribbled down his chin. He looked like a madman.
"That was a mistake, baby doll. A big mistake. You’re going to ask
them to cancel it, today, as soon as I’m ready to let you, and then
we’re going to live together, like we should." The slap to the side
of my head made my ear ache and again, my vision blurred.
"No way, Ricky, I won’t do it. I want you out. Now. You’re not my
husband any more, and the restraining order stands. I wouldn’t
cancel it, even if I could."
